Govt to end ‘loot’ by consultants, says Shelar

IT Minister Ashish Shelar criticized the appointment of 246 consultants, claiming they earn excessive pay from multiple departments, and announced monitoring reforms.

MUMBAI: Calling it “loot of the government”, information technology minister Ashish Shelar said on Wednesday that the 246 consultants appointed through consultancy firms must be closely monitored as they have been drawing four to five times their remuneration. These consultants, engaged though high-profile consultancy firms such as KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, were able to pull off this “loot” as each of them has been simultaneously appointed by more than one government department.

Govt to end ‘loot’ by consultants, says Shelar

Pointing to loot at an altogether different level, Shelar said the government will also monitor whether the consulting firms pay these 246 consultants, all of them IT specialists, as well as 2,200 other administrative staff, the actual remuneration being taken from the government.

During a review meeting on Wednesday, Shelar directed officials from his department to prepare a special portal to upload the details needed to monitor these consultants and other outsourced manpower.

“Government resolutions issued in 2018 and 2023 for the appointment of consultants and employees through six empanelled agencies will be amended with the permission of the chief minister. Although the recruitments are done by MahaIT, a government-controlled body, there is no control over payments to these personnel,” said Shelar.

The minister said that, in some cases, the consulting firms have been paying these consultants wages that are lower than the figures agreed upon with the government. “Government resolutions will be amended to make sure the money taken from the government by these agencies reaches the people recruited from them. MahaIT has also been asked to lower its administrative costs to 5%,” he said, after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the state government has deferred the rollout of the Golden Data Maha Samanvay project. The portal aims at streamlining welfare delivery and plugging leaks in government schemes by cross-checking and verifying its records to prevent duplication and bogus entries.

“Around 6 crore records of a total 15 crore have been verified so far, and key components such as 144 attributes have been completed. Directives have been issued to finalise essential steps before the system goes live or receives UID certification.

Important measures include developing a Citizen Awareness System through the Maha-Samanvay portal, integrating a robust security firewall, conducting high-level load testing to ensure performance during peak usage, enabling integration with DigiYatra, and incorporating an AI-powered search engine for advanced data analysis and actionable insights by government departments,” said Shelar.

On the WhatsApp citizen service initiative, Shelar emphasized that citizen service is a fundamental right, now being extended via WhatsApp under a partnership with Meta. The initial rollout includes 100 services managed by a selected vendor, but there are concerns about the current system’s ability to handle over 1,000 sessions per second. With a long-term goal of offering 1,000 services, a reassessment of vendor capabilities is required. Future expansions will be managed through a revised RFP process to ensure faster and more efficient delivery,” he said.